Tottenham Hotspur vs West Bromwich: Battle Of The Managers

By Jason Bardwell

Photo Courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Oficial Facebook Page

Tottenham Hotspur welcomes West Bromwich to White Hart Lane as the two caretaker managers face off against each other. Yes, I know Tim Sherwood has been installed as the permanent boss for the Spurs, but you can tell from the length of the contract that he is still the interim manager in the eyes of Daniel Levy.

Personally, I hope he does well with the Spurs. I remember when he was playing for my home town team, Norwich City, before moving on to Blackburn and winning one of the first Premiership titles. Kenny Dalglish was the manager back then and wanted to sign the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane. The chairman reportedly questioned why he would want the Frenchman when they had Sherwood. I think a similar thing is being said in the Spurs’ boardroom right now.

Sherwood does have a number of injuries for his home debut, with Andros Townsend, Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul and Paulinho some of the key players missing. Emmanuel Adebayor will likely start again, and he will be fine as long as he continues to score. At previous clubs, things started to deteriorate when the Togo International thought himself better than everyone else. The comments he made this past week sound as if he is not too far away from another implosion.

There is another side in the game on Thursday, however, and manager Keith Downing will be hoping that his side can start registering points again. The tied game last time out against Hull City came on the back of four straight defeats. The players he has at his disposal should be giving the Spurs a game, but it just depends on who wants it more.

Jason Bardwell is a Soccer writer for Rant Sport. You can follow him on Twitter @PACityboy or on Facebook.